AltWeeklies Wire
'The Invention of Lying' is High-Concept Done Rightnew
As a high-concept comedy, Invention gets to cover a lot of ground, from commercialism to religion and societal conventions. Fortunately, Gervais actually has insight into most of those issues, which means the film never gets overly sanctimonious.
Fast Forward Weekly |
Peter Hemminger |
10-01-2009 |
Reviews
The Coen Brothers Clarify Their Jewishness -- Without Guiltnew
The Coens admit their own Jewishness the way their best recent films admit Americanness: with genuine feeling for the complexities, abundance and absurd conventions that give us our identity.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-01-2009 |
Reviews
Ellen Page Whips it Good in Her Best Post-'Juno' Rolenew
After seeing Juno, my outraged teen daughter rightly asked, "Where is the girl's version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Whip It steps into that void.
'Capitalism': Love It or Leave It?new
If Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story teaches us one thing about the global economic crisis, it is how much the stunt-documentary gold standard has declined in value.
C-Ville Weekly |
Jonathan Kiefer |
09-30-2009 |
Reviews
'Zombieland' Gets a Little Horror in the Funniest American Comedy of the Year
There are plenty of folks who will peruse their local move listings, and -- whether due to assumptions about quality or a queasy stomach -- won't bother going past the first six letters of the title Zombieland. And that's a shame.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
09-29-2009 |
Reviews
'No Impact Man': What’s the Big To-Do About Doing With Less?new
Is No Impact Man a landmark documentary? Is the book a Walden for our time? Not really. Both, in a modest, agreeable fashion, tell us what we already know: We buy too much, we waste too much, and we're using up resources disproportionate to our presence on the planet.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
09-28-2009 |
Reviews
Coen Brothers Miss Rather than Hit With 'A Serious Man'
A Serious Man is not an awful movie, and it may well be a fantastic film for the audience that the Coens are speaking to.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
09-28-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: A Serious Man, The Coen Brothers
'Disgrace' Faces the Facts of Post-Apartheid South Africanew
This film adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's brilliant 1999 novel looks the chaos and hatred of postapartheid South Africa squarely in the face, probing the terrible fallout from white denial and pride without patronizing blacks by caricaturing them as noble victims.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-25-2009 |
Reviews
Tucker Max Wants You to Like Him for Being an Unapologetic Dickheadnew
The film adaptation of Max's notoriously infantile and incredibly popular tell-all memoir about his fratboy sexcapades is not immediately repugnant. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell only becomes truly insipid when it makes a cloying, half-hearted attempt to show that Max and his buddies have learned the error of their ways and now have greater respect for women and themselves.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
09-24-2009 |
Reviews
Michael Moore Sells the Same Old Shtick in 'Capitalism'new
I wish that more of the contradictions of late capitalism had made it into this scattershot, lazy slice of agitprop, which recycles Moore's usual slice-and-dice job on corporations, while bobbing a curtsey to the current crisis.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-24-2009 |
Reviews
Jane Campion Creates Period Poetry With 'Bright Star'new
Sure, this one could be considered a chick flick. It's set in the early 1800s in England, after all. But it's made by Campion, who's best known for The Piano, so it's real label should actually be "art-house." Regardless, you don't need to be a chick or an art-house geek to enjoy Abbie Cornish's performance.
San Diego CityBeat |
Anders Wright |
09-23-2009 |
Reviews
'The Burning Plain' is an Interminably Spiritless Ordealnew
Beneath the film's tragic poses and ludicrous melancholy, one can almost hear Arriaga muttering to himself: "Do I have anything here? Let's maybe move this scene here, that one there, yeah, that'll do it, that looks like something. Right? Right?" Wrong.
Willamette Week |
Chris Stamm |
09-23-2009 |
Reviews
'Amreeka' is Too Predictable to be Great, Too Broad to be Profoundnew
By keeping the tone impish, the characters humane and the issues personal, Amreeka explores post-9/11 Arab anxieties and injustices without condemnation or proselytizing. In fact, Dabis smartly puts the focus on sisterhood and family while tackling the obstacles to assimilation and acceptance.
Metro Times |
Jeff Meyers |
09-22-2009 |
Reviews
Remaking Theo van Gogh: Stanley Tucci Goes Dutch With 'Blind Date'
As a theatrical filmic exercise, Blind Date is a fair experiment. Just don't go expecting to see a traditional movie.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
09-21-2009 |
Reviews
'Throw Down Your Heart' Would Make a Better Soundtrack than a Movienew
The premise here is simple: Despite its toothless-white-guy connotations, the banjo comes from Africa -- and Grammy-winning banjo genius Bela Fleck is bringing it home. But really, that mission is mostly just an excuse for Fleck to jam with musicians across the continent.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Chris Potter |
09-21-2009 |
Reviews
